The 175th Anniversary of the Catholic Church in Tonga was celebrated with a mass led by Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi at Pangaimotu Island. At this site a white cross that marks the place where the first mass celebrated in Tonga took place on 2 July 1842. Pangaimotu is a small island in the Tongatapu Read more
St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Christchurch was packed with around 800 people to celebrate and witness Graeme Blackburn, Alister Castillo and Huynh Tran’s ordinations on Saturday 1 July. All three were ordained as diocesan priests for the Christchurch diocese, where they have been working as deacons. Supporters witnessing their priestly promises of obedience and service of Read more
A former professional footballer from Northern Ireland, Philip Mulryne, has been ordained a priest in the Dominican Order. Mulryne, who is reported to have once earned £600,000 a year, has also taken a vow of poverty. He made his debut in 1997 with Manchester United and won 27 caps for Northern Ireland. Read more
A survey of 444 newly ordained priests in the United States shows they were closely connected to the church when they were growing up. The survey run by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University shows most of the new priests went to Catholic schools. Family example is another important factor Read more
Assisting with abortion – even for former non-Catholics – is an obstacle to ordination. According to the National Catholic Reporter, the Vatican published the ruling on Thursday after Pope Francis approved the interpretation of church law during a Pontifical Council in May. The Catholic Church considers the sanctity of life “so absolute” that the new Read more
Ordinations in Germany have dropped by 50 per cent in the last decade. The decrease reflects a continuous downward trend, with only 122 diocesan priests ordained in 2005; five decades ago, in 1965, the number was 500. While there were almost 20,000 Catholic priests in Germany in 1990, today their number has already dropped to Read more
Fr Marchellino Park realised his calling to priesthood after God granted him a second lease on life following a robbery and brutal beating several years ago that sent him into a coma. And a single Gospel passage about casting out nets was decisive for Fr Austin Fernandes in his vocational journey. Korean-born Fr Park and Read more
On Saturday, 6 August, the Feast of the Transfiguration, Bishop Patrick Dunn will ordain Deacon Justin Glyn SJ a priest at the Cathedral of St Patrick and St Joseph, Auckland, in a ceremony commencing at 11.30am. The following day, at 9.30am, he will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at Our Lady Star of the Sea, Read more
A US nun was excommunicated and dismissed from her religious order last week after admitting that she was secretly ordained as a priest. Sr Leticia Rawles, 67, was ordained in April by the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests and has since presided over religious services. Currently critically ill in hospital, Sr Rawes said she Read more
Last Sunday, newly ordained Patrick Bradford celebrated a thanksgiving Mass in St Joseph’s church in Waitara. Bradford, who is 29, grew up in St Joseph’s Parish. He studied for the priesthood at a seminary in Melbourne and was ordained in Melbourne on 12 September. After leaving Francis Douglas Memorial College, Bradford majored in accounting at Read more